As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes
by mr-raindrops
Summary: It's not all sweet, though, as Kuroko's friends scramble around trying to get him something special for his birthday. Confusion and misinterpretations ensue. (Certain idiots aren't helping the situation, either)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_**  
**

* * *

...

* * *

_1. As Nice As It Sounds, I Don't Like Sweet Things_

* * *

_'Italics'ー_ thoughts

"..."―spoken words

* * *

"Eh?!_ Kuroko-kun's birthday?!_" a girl cried out.

Every head in Class 2-B turned to stare at her and an unusually tall boy standing beside her desk.

A rough hand slapped over the brunette's mouth, and she kicked Seirin's ace in the shins instinctively. It earned a groan from the red head as he dropped onto one knee, trying to alleviate the pain by rubbing his leg.

Now free from the grasp of the taller first-year, Aida Riko towered above him menacingly. "Double the training menu."

"Wha―wait! C-coach!" Kagami stuttered, his heart rate quickening at the thought of running even just an extra lap around the gym. What's wrong with this _demon_ of a coach?! All he did was cover her mouth! "I―"

"Triple."

That silenced the power forward for good, and he waited for permission before opening his mouth again.

"Now, what's this about Kuroko-kun's birthday?" an innocent smile plastered itself onto Riko's face, and Kagami gulped. How deceiving.

"Wel...I wanna get him something..." the boy confessed, scratching the back of his neck. He was having trouble wording his thoughts. "And I sorta wanna get the team together so that maybe we could celebrate it, uh, together. With him. As a team. Please."

Riko rolled her eyes at Kagami's stammering. "So what do you want to do when everyone's gathered?"

He blinked. He hadn't thought of that. Sheepishly grinning, Kagami looked at his coach.

"_Bakagami_! Let's just give your neck a break from supporting that useless head of yours!"

"W-wait, Coach!" '_What the hell does that mean?! Are you just telling me indirectly that you're going to murder me?!'_

"Shut up, you American returnee, you're too loud!" Another voice cut in, and Kagami promptly felt a blow to the back of his poor head. It was getting bullied quite a lot today.

Rubbing his head and scrunching up his eyebrows, he turned to face Seirin's shooting guard. "Hey, Captain."

Hyuuga's permanent scowl deepened. "What are you two up to _now_?"

_'Why do you make it__ sound as if this is a common occurence? Isn't this what loudmouth Kiyoshi and Coach usually do together? How come I'm a part of it?!'_

_"_Ah! There you are," Riko's smile widened. Good lord. "We were just talking about Kuroko-kun birthday! It's coming up in a few days, you know."

Kagami shuddered at her artificially sweet voice. This is why he liked salty things. The coach was like some mountain gorilla in the body of a teenage girl with the personality of an evil queen. No offense to gorillas.

"Kuroko?" Hyuuga frowned. "Birthday?"

"Yes! Kuroko-kun has a birthday too, you know!" Riko exclaimed, moving forward to lean closer to Hyuuga's face. Kagami noticed how the tips of his ears turned a darker pink. '_So that's how it is'._

"We're going to throw a party for Kuroko-kun!" the small girl declared, moving away from the bespectacled boy, looking smugly at the two. Kagami exchanged glances with a stunned Hyuuga, both wondering about how the whole thing was going to work out.

It was Seirin's basketball club after all. Nothing is supposed to go smoothly.

* * *

Kagami blocked out the teacher's boring drones. Instead, he gazed at the back of Kuroko's head, as if all the answers in life lied there. Although, that thought was sort of creepy.

To be honest, Kagami wasn't sure what the teal haired boy liked, other than the obvious vanilla shakes and basketball. _Cute puppies were out of the question. _Besides, the ace had really wanted to get Kuroko something special. Something he would love, and keep with him forever, and something that would always make Kuroko think of Kagami and the other Seirin team members whenever he laid eyes on it.

But then, Kagami also wanted the gift to be useful. Meaningful and useful.

'_Screw this._'

He wanted to bang his head against the desk, if it wasn't for the teacher up in the front of the classroom, ranting on about some essay technique. Life would be so much simpler if all he had to do was play basketball. And that's all he really wanted to do.

Glumly, he continued analyzing Kuroko's pale blue locks. The frustration inside of him began to build up.

Suddenly, the hair disappeared, and in their place were equally blue orbs, staring into his red ones nonchalantly.

"Kagami-kun, you're going to burn a hole through my head. Please stop and pay attention," the smaller boy said monotonously, before turning back around to face the blackboard. The teacher was scribbling nonsense on it now.

Blinking, it took Kagami a few minutes to realize what exactly Kuroko had said.

The frustration became rage, and it expanded in his chest until he thought he was going to blow up or something. And he couldn't do a thing to the other without getting in trouble. '_And besides, Kuroko's a little devil when it comes to revenge._'

Kagami slumped down on his desk, sulking, trying to ignore his anger. Life was really hard.

* * *

"Ah...what should I do?" Kagami wondered aloud as he scuffled along the sidewalk in the Shinjuku district. He passed by numerous stores, but nothing inside caught his eye.

The crowd was getting bigger, as more people hurried along, anxious to get home, to the bus stop, to a restaurant. Lights lit up every single corner, and it brought back memories of outings back in America with his friends.

He looked up at the dull sky, an endless sheet of gray. Sighing, he reached up to tighten his wool scarf around his neck and face more snugly. It was getting chilly.

As the red head fixed the scarf, something caught his elbow. There was a crash, something being dropped.

A high pitched squeal rang in his ears, and Kagami cringed. '_I'm gonna get tinnitus_.'

Turning to the person he had bumped into, the ace was about to apologize, when he realized who it was.

A pair of eyes the colour of fuschia blooms stared back at him. A wide smile spread across her initially shocked face. "Kagami Taiga of Seirin, 190 cm, power forward."

'_What, is that supposed to be a greeting?'_ Kagami could feel himself making a weird expression. _  
_

_"_Uh...yeah, that's me."

He didn't know how to deal with people like her. He didn't know how to deal with any of Kuroko's middle school friends. _  
_

_'How do I even deal with Kuroko?'_

_"_So, Kagamin, what are you doing here, _shopping_ at this hour?" Momoi Satsuki beamed at him. Kagami almost blanched at the nickname, even more so with the addition of the idea that he was shopping.

"I―well, not shopping. I'm just looking around, I don't know if I'm gonna buy anything, so..."

"That's shopping!"

"But―"

"That's shopping!" The girl's smile seemed unreal. _'I think her cheeks are gonna crack open if she smiles any further.' _"That's good! I'm shopping too, so we can shop together, Kagamin!"

"What?! But what about Aho―Aomine? Can't you shop with him?" Kagami stammered. Why did this have to happen to him? Can't he just walk around some stores in peace without meeting any of the psychos from Teikou?

'_Well, I guess they're better psychos to come across than that crazy murderer in Kyoto.' _Kagami mentally shuddered at the thought of the other redhead and his...interesting personality.

At the mention of Aomine, the pink haired girl pouted. "That moron went shopping with Ki-chan."

"Ki-chan? Kise? Ki-chan? _That_ Ki-chan? I didn't hear wrong, right?" Kagami demanded, all thoughts of Akashi Seijuurou erased from his mind, and replaced with a slightly horrendous image of Aomine and Kise linking arms as they skipped through the shopping district.

_"Ah, Kise-chan! How would this shirt look on me? I look hot, don't I?" _

_"EEK! Aominecchi! You look totally fabulous! How about this pair of jeans? Does it make me look fat?"_

It made it all the more disturbing when the boy realized that the Kise he had just thought of wasn't actually a figment of his imagination. The model really did act like that, didn't he? Kagami felt a shiver run up his spine, and he tried to shake off those thoughts. Though the Aomine created by his imagination was definitely going to give him a nightmare.

"Yes. Ki-chan was really giggly too, so he must be excited," Momoi mused, staring upwards as she tapped her chin with an index finger. "Dai-chan ran off without me when he saw Ki-chan, and said that he won't attend any of Touou's matches if I didn't leave them alone by themselves. It's like they're keeping a secret."

Kagami stiffened. A secret? "Could it be..." '_That they're going out?_'

Momoi didn't seem to hear the tall boy. "Anyways, Kagamin, why are you shopping anyways? I didn't know you were this kind of guy! I mean, I could have just came shopping with you instead of dragging Dai-chan along everytime. He complains way too much anyways, so really, you could have told me sooner!"

The red haired ace felt his face heat up. "I'm just looking for Kuroko's present." '_And why do you make us sound so close? Would you really ask the guy you've seen like twice before to go spend girl time with you?'_

The girl clapped her hands together. "Ah! Me too! I want to do something speical for Tetsu-kun! This is his first birthday in high school, after all!"

* * *

"So, about Kurokocchi's party..."

The cheerfulness of the blond beside him contradicted increasingly with the darkening sky, though it blended in quite well with the city lights. Aomine sighed.

"Just set up a fountain spurting vanilla milkshake and I think that's all he needs."

The other rolled his amber eyes. "We don't need your _totally brilliant_ ideas, Aominecchi."

"Hah? That's a little too out of character, you asshole!" Aomine sputtered. Kise's attitude was getting more and more annoying lately. It somehow reminded him of his former shadow, the bluntness of his words making his legs refuse to move.

Kise stopped walking too. "Swearing isn't a good habit, Aominecchi. Besides, I really want to buy Kurokocchi's present so I won't have to rush it later. Like a certain someone. So let's go!"

"Did you just casually add in that 'like a certain someone'? I heard that, you know!"

The small forward pretended not to hear, and began walking again, his pace faster than before. "Ahh! I wonder what Kurokocchi would like...Probably something related to basketball, right? But he has basically everything he needs, so..."

Aomine sighed again. How did he get stuck with this idiot? Well, he knew, but he wondered why he had agreed to meet up with Kise at the train station to take him here to shop. At least Satsuki wasn't there.

The Touou ace was suddenly yanked back by the collar of his school uniform. He gagged slightly as the tie tightly pushed against his neck. "Ki―ki―se! You're choking me―let go!"

The grip loosened, but it was still there. Aomine was left to inhale deep breaths, glaring at the blond as the other stared up at a poster in wonder. The tanned boy followed the other's gaze, to a giant picture of a pair of basketball shoes. On the side of the shoes, a signature was scribbled over the surface.

"Aominecchi! This is perfect!"

* * *

lolololol

I can't write ok so forgive me this is so OOC I almost cried reading over it haha

/sob

anyways. This is my attempt at not killing characters off so

you know. I'm horrible at this. I'm horrible either way, killing fictional people or not.

It's supposed to be for Kuroko's birthday, but...I don't know where I'm going with this story lol

Thanks for reading thought ;A;

Constructive criticism welcomed~(because I SERIOUSLY SUCK AT THIS/CRY)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

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_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

...

* * *

_2. You're Not Very Sweet, Are You?_

* * *

Kagami was forced along with the pink haired girl as they weaved through the crowd. He hoped it was worth it, being dragged by her, and hoped that she would know the perfect present for Kuroko. After all, she was the former manager of Teikou, and had a knack for stalki―gathering information.

His sleeve was pulled this way and that, until finally, they ducked into a small, but cozy shop. A bell rang, signalling their arrival.

At a wooden desk with a cash register, a young lady sat, glancing up from a thick book. "Ah. Welcome. Take your time and please find something you'd like."

Kagami took the time as Momoi responded to the cashier's greeting to look around the shop. It was a bookstore, and its dark wooden shelves reached up to the ceiling, reminding him of some ancient library. Despite its exterior, the store was way bigger than it had seemed, containing about six to ten shelves.

He was almost about to compliment Momoi. Why didn't he think of it? Kuroko was always walking around with his nose buried in some book. But the question is, which ones?

The ace went to the nearest shelf, and pulled out a thick book. Harry Potter, translated into Japanese. Although Kagami wasn't that great with literature, he might have even _volunteered_ to read a book, if only it was in English.

He set the book back into place, and spotted Momoi standing on her tippy-toes in another aisle.

"Need help?" he asked as he made his way to where she stood.

Magenta eyes stared at him pleadingly, and she pointed to a green covered book just beyond her reach. Kagami sighed, and plucked the book from its place, handing it to her.

"Tetsu-kun's been looking forward to this book being published for a long time now! He'll definitely like it!" the girl squealed, not even bothering to thank the redhead, as she hugged the book to her chest like it was a treasure that could be stolen away at any second. "And I told him that it wasn't going to be out until next month! He'll be so shocked to see this! Come on! I'm going to go pay for it now."

"Wait! But I need to get Kuroko something too! Help me here!" Kagami panicked, raising his voice. The shop lady looked at him. He felt blood rush to his face. "Please," he added in a whisper.

Momoi pouted. "Tetsu-kun is really confusing! I don't know what other books he wanted. Besides, he might have read them already."

Kagami frowned, all hopes lost. Why did couldn't it have been _Aho_mine who had gotten stuck with her instead of him? Though on the other hand, the tanned boy was also stuck with that annoying blond, so maybe they were equal. But still, he had the vague feeling (that was probably the truth) that Momoi had pretty much just ditched him, leaving him to his own devices.

'_I feel used.'_

When they exited the store with Momoi humming out of tune while clutching the wrapped book tightly, Kagami looked across the street and saw a poster that had his hopes flying all over the place.

"_Enter the contest to win!" _was on the poster, along with a picture of a pair of basketball shoes. It looked like one of the really expensive ones, too. To add to this, Kagami could swear he could see a signature on the side of the shoes.

He hurried to an intersection, waiting impatiently for the lights to turn green. Momoi ran behind him, trying to catch up. "Slow down, Kagamin!"

The tall boy didn't hear her, and crossed the street amongst the swarms of people. It was _almost_ worse than lunch time.

When he finally reached the store, which sold sports equipment, Kagami saw a signature on the poster that he's been longing to have on his own basketball shoes since...well, as long as he had known the player.

"What's this, Kagamin?" Momoi asked, gazing at the poster in admiration. "'_First to bring in all the items before January 30th wins the contest. For more details, visit our website_ .' Wow! Are you going to get this for Tetsu-kun?"

A grin spread across Kagami's face.

* * *

Kagami's head lulled forward, slipping from where he rested it against his palm a few moments ago. He caught himself before his face could smash into the desk.

The teacher was writing stuff on the board again. He couldn't even comprehend the words, so he'll probably have to ask Kuroko for notes again after class.

After that whole burning-a-hole-through-Kuroko's-head incident, Kagami had requested the pale boy to switch seats with him. The other had readily agreed, murmuring something about distracting and learning and listening to the teacher. Now, Kagami could stare a hole through the black haired girl's head in front of him.

Luckily, she didn't notice.

He had spent the night before looking through all the required items for the scavenger hunt. They seemed normal enough...but Kagami just didn't know where to get it. With the deadline was just over a week away, Kagami could use some help from the rest of the Seirin basketball team. The only problem was that he had to figure out a way to tell them all without Kuroko finding out.

Mentally, he made a list of all the things that he could gather right away. Lip gloss was easy enough to find, and same with a paper crane. The ones he wasn't so sure about was the porcelain frog, a carrot stuffy with glasses, and a _signature from someone famous in the basketball world._

_'Seriously! They're asking us to exchange an autograph for something that's autographed?!'_

There was a tap on his back, and he bristled, almost yelling out loud, if it wasn't for the fact that class was still going on.

"Kagami-kun, can you please duck down a little? You're blocking the board," Kuroko's voice reached the redhead's ears. It was _always_ Kuroko scaring thr crap out of him, wasn't it?

He didn't know why he complied, but he slumped down, just a little.

"Thank you."

'_Despite his appearance, he's actually really evil__!_'_  
_

* * *

"What was the website again?" Kise asked as he opened up the browser on Aomine's laptop.

Aomine sighed, and handed him a slip of paper with the address written on it with Kise's weird but neat handwriting. The blond tapped it in quickly, as Aomine flopped himself onto his bed. He really needed to get a new bed, the proof being his feet were almost dangling over the edge.

Kise and Aomine had looked over their basketball schedules, and had decided to meet up on the day they were free. It was a Saturday afternoon, and Kise had come to Tokyo to do a photo shoot in the morning. Aomine was glad he wasn't forced to go over to Kise's house all the way in Kanagawa. He felt even the walk to the bakery across the street was a mile away when he had to go buy breakfast that morning.

The blue haired boy closed his eyes, listening to clicks and taps of the keyboard as Kise read through the website's contents.

"Ah! Aominecchi! It says here all the things we'll need for the scavenger hunt: Popin' Cooking doughnut kit, snow globe, Rilakkuma stuffy, music box..."

Aomine moaned in defeat as the blond listed off the items. Already, he had no idea what half the things were. The hell's a Popin' Cooking doughnut kit?

"How many things do we need to get?" Aomine's voice cracked. '_Tetsu better appreciate what I'm doing for him._'

"A hundred fifty."

Aomine's lids flew open. "Eh?"

"A hundred fifty," Kise repeated, cocking his head sideways as he threw Aomine a look. "What's wrong?"

Dark hands covered his eyes. "Agh!"

'_Tetsu, you bastard! This is the last birthday present I'm ever gonna get you!'_

"Can't we just buy a random pair of shoes signed by Kobe or something? That's easier to get than that Popping Cooking Mama Doughnut," Aomine insisted.

The power forward could see Kise raising an eyebrow from behind his lids. "It's Popin' Cooking, Aominecchi. Besides, do you have money to buy shoes?"

"Whatever it's called, yeah, I've got money." Not much, but Kise would chip in too, right? He had a part-time modelling job, after all, so he couldn't be broke or anything. Although Aomine knew that Kise's demon of a mother wouldn't let anyone touch that money, since it was going into the blond's university funds. So maybe that was a lie.

"How many days is it until Kurokocchi's birthday?"

"Uh..." Today was the 25th, so, "a week?"

The other 'hmm'-ed. "Buying things from online would probably be late for Kurokocchi's birthday. I think the things on this list would be pretty easy to get, if we all work together."

"Huh? Together? All?" Aomine peeked through his fingers at Kise, who began grinning idiotically at him.

"I messaged Midorimacchi about it, and Akashicchi and Murasakibaracchi too. Midorimacchi would be a great help, right? His lucky items are pretty scavenger hunt-ish, yeah?" Kise nodded, almost as if he was inwardly complimenting himself for his great work. "I was going to text Momocchi too, but I figured that you would have told her about it already."

At that last part, Touou's ace scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "About that..."

[...]

_"So what did you two find today?" Momoi looked sideways at her childhood friend, as she cradled a cup of hot tea._

_The two sat in a small restaurant, waiting for their orders to come. In the school bag that sat on the chair beside her, Kuroko's present rested snugly, away from the prying eyes of Aomine. _

_The boy glared at her. "None of your business. What did you get? Did you even get anything?" _

_She gazed back at him, and said in an equally cold voice, "none of your business." _

_The tension was still present when a waitress set steaming bowls of yakisoba noodles in front of the two, who were having a staring contest with each other from across the table. To be honest, Aomine really was curious as to what Momoi had bought (or maybe didn't buy) for Kuroko, but he didn't want to reveal what he had wanted to get for his former shadow to her, either. He wanted her to be surprised as much as Kuroko, to let her see how much he could do on his own without her help._

_To sum it up, they're just both really stubborn, so they ate their meal in silence._

[...]

"Yeah, I didn't tell her."

Kise made an expression that showed that he had known the exact reason why. "You're so childish, Aominecchi."

"Hah?!"

* * *

I have no idea . ahahaha.

I mean, at first I thought it'd be nice to write a happy story, but now it's like...bleh?

idk anymore. AHKHGKLAHGL.

agh, i was really planning to finish this story by now, but my life became clogged up by basketball orz really sorry!

but. thanks for reading / making it to the second chapter, I mean seriously, how. Thank you for the reviews, too, they made me squeal in happiness (:


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_3. Maybe Everything Is Just Bittersweet_

* * *

"Wow, Kagami-kun, you did something productive!"

The whole team crowded around one sheet of paper, with a list of one hundred fifty items to find within the next week. Instead of practicing, the basketball club used the gym as the room to plan the proceedings of the scavenger hunt.

Riko had informed Kuroko that practice was to be cancelled that day, usin the excuse that many members were busy after school. Kagami had walked home with Kuroko, as usual, but as soon as he lost sight of the passing expert, he had tore back to the school.

Riko stood, smirking at the red haired boy, and he coughed, trying not to get himself into any unnecessary trouble by trash talking. Though it probably wouldn't hurt if he said it in English.

"I think I have some of these things!" Koganei looked up at the coach and the ace, and pointed to the taller male beside him, still bent over reading the sheet. "Mitobe probably has some around his house too!"

"Alright, then please bring it in as soon as you can. Remember to get it when you go over to each others' houses," Riko nodded, glancing at the duo with a glint in her eyes. Kagami had to blink and look twice. His brain was out of control these past few days, assuming this and that. Though, when he really thought about it, his two seniors seemed awfully close...

"Hello? Earth to Kagami-kun? You there?" A delicate looking hand suddenly appeared in front of his face, waving back and forth. The hand was delicate enough, alright. The owner, not so much. "Kagami-kun, it's all your fault that we're doing this instead of training right now. We're doing you a favour, so please pay attention, or you'll get punishments worse than confessing to your crush naked."

'_So the evil queen's at it again.'_

But he did feel slightly guilty. Each team member had already gotten Kuroko something small, but agreed to help Kagami with his present. But the redhead really did think that it was going to be possible to gather all the items with the help of his teammates.

"Ah! I have this!" Izuki exclaimed, and Kagami went over to peek over his shoulders at the item he was pointing at, glad that the subject was changed.

_Joke book._

So maybe he regretted being glad about the topic change.

The entire team went quiet, and an awkward silence enveloped the bunch. Hyuuga cleared his throat.

Suddenly, the gym doors slammed open, and everyone flinched. It couldn't be Kuroko, at least, who always entered the scene quietly and unnoticed.

"Hahaha! Why is it so quiet in here? Ah? No one's changed out of their uniforms? What are we all standing around for? Let's play!" A brunette with crutches made his way into the gym, a smile already in place. No surprise, it's the guy who always has to make such a dramatic entrance.

"Kiyoshi-senpai!" Cries were heard from the group, relief washing over Kagami (once again) as the silence was broken.

"Yo! What's up?" The second-year grinned, and spotted the white sheet in the centre of everyone's attention. "What's that?"

"Huh?" Hyuuga followed his eyes to the list. "Ah. Kagami, explain."

Kagami could feel his heart rate rocketing. He was really hoping for the centre of conversation to stay away from him. And plus, he was a bit annoyed at Hyuuga's blunt order. Really, Hyuuga was only a year older than him, it's not like he's had a whole life's worth of experience to be that much wiser than him.

Before he could even open his mouth to say anything, Riko made a cutting motion across her neck, that fake smile on her face again.

_"Double the training."_ He could already hear it. Kagami swallowed.

No point complaining.

"Oh. That. It's this list for a scavenger hunt," the words tumbled out of the ace's mouth. Better to protect his body as much as he can. He's been so tired looking for any scavenger hunt items he might have that he could barely keep up the regular training, let alone any extras. Besides, he's already suffered enough with the triple training three days before. "I saw this ad for a contest. You win a pair of shoes signed by a NBA player."

Kiyoshi blinked. "Really? Wow! Who's the one that wants the shoes, then?"

Riko shoved Kagami aside. The first-year choked as he bumped into the smaller Furihata, who fell onto the floor with a thud.

"Ah! Are you alright?" Came voices of concern, but Riko ignored them, and instead continued to smile.

"It's for Kuroko-kun! It's his birthday on the 31st!" The coach put her hands on her hips. "You're going to help us, right, Teppei?"

There was a bit of a threatening edge in the girl's voice, but being as dense as Kiyoshi, he didn't really notice. But he agreed anyways. "Sounds like fun!"

* * *

Aomine sure hoped that Kise wasn't able to copy other people's personalities. Because he was getting _very, very annoying._

Right now, the model was shuffling through the piles of untouched workbooks and school papers on his desk, looking for various items, ranging from a simple pencil to a a magazine of any kind.

'_Well, that part should be easy._'

Yeah, he's got a whole collection of magazines under his bed. But Kise can make do with the one hidden beneath all the junk (it's junk to him, anyways). He's read it six times already, so it wouldn't hurt to throw it out. Well, it _will_ hurt, but he'll bear with it, for Kuroko's sake.

"Aominecchi, do you by any chance have..." Kise paused, scanning the list of items again. "A string bracelet?"

There was a silent moment, in which Aomine just gaped at the other. The blond stared back innocently.

"Kise, you ass! What do you think I do in my spare time?" he snapped, coming out of his trance. Why would he have a bracelet, anyways?

The Kaijou ace shrugged. "Dunno, weave bracelets and experimenting with makeup?"

Noticing Aomine's enraged expression, the small forward was quick to backtrack. "Ahaha! Just kidding, Aominecchi! I was...just wondering if maybe Momocchi might have forgotten one here?"

Now that he thought of it, there was that one time when Momoi had been obsessed with making those weird friendship bracelets back in middle school. It was around the time when she had met Kuroko, and it was also around that time when she had ignored him for an entire week, giggling with her girlfriends whenever the phantom sixth man of the team was nearby.

It probably wasn't a coincidence. He remembered those bracelets. The pink and pale blue of it still taunted him in his nightmares sometimes. That girl has an obsession.

"She has some at her house," Aomine said slowly. Kise's eyes lit up. "Go get it from her on the way back to Kanagawa."

"Huh? But her house isn't 'on the way' to the train station! You go get it from her. You guys go to the same school!" The blond whined, but his tone didn't convey the petty message that he didn't want to go to the extra trouble. He was up to something mischievous again. Aomine could only guess what.

"No, I'm _not_ making up with her! She should say sorry to me!"

"I didn't say that! Besides, you were the one who started the entire problem!" Kise frowned, making Aomine squirm a little. He really didn't want to admit that it was all his fault. "Aominecchi, be a man and step up and apologize."

Aomine wasn't as stubborn as his former "shadow", but nevertheless, he was pretty prideful, and that was probably enough to make up for it. "Why should I?!"

"Do you want to get a present for Kurokocchi or not?" Kise pouted, crossing his arms. There was a pleading look in his honey coloured eyes. "Aominecchi! We've been trying so hard! Don't tell me you're going to let a small conflict between the two of you ruin all our efforts!"

That struck a sensitive spot. As much as he would have liked to not care about it, he really didn't like letting Kise down.

He thought back to all those one-on-ones, and the way Kise had tried to match his strength, never giving up. The blond reminded him of a certain teal haired boy.

Aomine owed that much to Kise. To at least try.

The Touou ace grumbled, and a grin appeared on Kise's face.

* * *

"What the hell...a hundred fifty..." Kagami yawned, as the teacher exited the classroom. "How the hell do we do that?"

"What are you mumbling about, Kagami-kun?" A small figure appeared next to his desk, and Kagami let out a high-pitched 'eek'.

"Stop that! You're gonna really give me a heart attack!" The ace's outburst had many of his classmates staring at him. He began to pack up, trying to not notice the odd looks he received. His cheeks were as red as his hair.

'_This would be a nice time to have misdirection_.'

"Then, I'm sorry that you can't notice me, Kagami-kun," the smaller boy replied bluntly.

"Shut up!"

Kuroko was all ready, with his bag slung over his shoulders, and a small book in his right hand.

Once Kagami had shoved all his possessions into his bag, the blue haired boy took a step towards the door. "Maji Burger?"

Practice was cancelled that day, for the girls' volleyball tournament. Kagami shuddered at the memory of the volleyball team's arguments with Riko. Girls are vicious.

"Sure."

The two began making their way to their favourite fast food restaurant, and Kagami felt as if everything was back to normal. No stupid scavenger hunts, no keeping secrets, nothing. It was as if none of that ever happened, and they settled into their regular routine.

Kuroko read his book half-heartedly as his "light" rambled on about he planned to beat the members of the Generation of Miracles (again) and about how he really wished that practice wasn't cancelled today so that he can keep training and get better and better.

As they crossed the road to Maji, the phone vibrated in Kagami's pocket. He flipped it open, seeing as it was from the coach.

_We're meeting up at the Okonomiyaki place for dinner at 5:30. We're going to discuss about the party and your gift for Kuroko-kun, so make sure you're not late! (≧∇≦)_

Kuroko held the glass door open, eyebrow raised, waiting for Kagami, who stood gawking at his cell phone.

"Kagami-kun, you're blocking the entrance," the boy told him, pointing to a mother with a child behind the other.

Face flushing, Kagami put away the phone and mumbled a small apology to the two. The kid looked weirdly at the door. "Mama! The door opened by itself!"

"I didn't know that this place had an automatic door!" The woman commented lightly, smiling at Kagami.

Normally, the redhead would have shamelessly made fun of Kuroko, but today, he just remained silent as the two went into the restaurant.

But it was far from normal these days. Any sense of normality Kagami had felt beforehand had faded with Riko's text message. That '(≧∇≦)' pretty much guaranteed his death if he didn't show up on time.

To add to that, Kuroko had an unusual expression of concern in his azure eyes, instead of a subtle annoyance at being ignored."Kagami-kun, you seem really out of it."

Kagami inhaled deeply, and glanced at the time on his phone. Twenty past five. He's got ten minutes before he become the beef patty on his burgers.

"Sorry, I've got something that suddenly came up. Go get a milkshake without me," the power forward sighed, looking up to meet sky blue orbs. There was something that appeared in Kuroko's eyes, crystal clear, impossible to go unnoticed.

A lump forming in his throat, Kagami turned away. "I need to go. See you later, Kuroko."

"Goodbye, Kagami-kun," came the soft voice as the taller one of the two quickly turned in the direction of the okonomiyaki restaurant that he had been instructed to go to.

He didn't look back, fearing what he would see in those eyes.

Hurt.

* * *

...

ok. I'm sorry. And lol I forgot to say something like "happy birthday Kuroko" in the last chapter so.

Happy birthday Kuroko xD

And thanks for the follows/favs/reviews ;A; I really appreciate them, but I'm really scared to reply to the reviews cuz I think I'm gonna ruin something x'D (so I'm sorry for that)

but I have a tendency to run my mouth so orz I'M TERRIBLY SORRY

(please ignore me i just realized im a sakurai)

thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_4. It's Sweeter If You Taste Something Bitter First_

* * *

Kagami arrived at the restaurant with one minute to spare. He slid the wooden door open not-very-delicately, earning looks from everyone inside.

Barely registering the elderly owner's greeting, the redhead searched for his teammates.

Skimming over numerous faces, fiery eyes settled on a tall brunet. And...there! Koganei and Mitobe sat with the first years in the table next to Kiyoshi, and then if Kagami peeked over some others, he could just see the tips of Izuki, Hyuuga, and Riko's heads.

"I'm with them, over there," Kagami pointed at the Seirin basketball team, who had just gotten their bowls of batter for grilling their okonomiyaki. Not bothering to wait for someone to lead him to the table or a response from the owner, the tall boy was already headed in their direction.

Kagami loomed over the table that most of the second-years sat in.

As a shadow fell over the group, Riko looked up at a pissed off Kagami, that sickeningly sweet smile already in place.

"Good evening, Kagami-kun," the girl purred. She checked her phone. "Right on time, I see."

'_You were wanting me to be late, weren't you, you sadist!'_

Kagami gave a groan and sat himself down on the edge of the tatami mat beside Izuki as he began to take off his shoes. After swinging his legs up in to a crossed position on the raised seats, he eyed the two across from the table, then glanced at Kiyoshi sitting against the wall,who was scooping gooey batter onto the grill attached to the table.

"Ah! So, Kagami, we decided to order for you! Everyone agreed that you would spew lava like Mt. Fuji if we interrupted your feeding time like that! Now you can continue!"

'_Huh? Feeding time?_'

"Wait, wait! How did you know I was eating out with-" Kagami cut himself off, inwardly screaming at his mouth for moving on its own.

'_Damn! Did I just admit that I'm a human volcano?!_'

"Everyone knows. We all pass by that place on the way home," Hyuuga grumbled as he ladled his own okonomiyaki onto the hot metal surface.

"We've seen you there eating more than once! It's strange, Kagami, you should really stop talking to yourself! It's sort of creepy!" Koganei _helpfully _piped in from over Hyuuga's shoulders, earning him a slap in the face from the captain from grtting so close.

Kagami protested, all the whilst flushing. "I don't-"

"Really? If you don't talk to yourself, then could you be talking to your invisible friend?" Furihata joined in, teasing Kagami, whose face couldn't possibly get redder. He and Koganei began to giggle like little girls, while the rest of the team stopped whatever it was that they were doing and looked at the two.

"Invisible..." Izuki started, but stopped midsentence. He let that word sit there, as everyone else came to the same conclusion.

"Ah! You do walk home with Kuroko-kun a lot!" Riko exclaimed.

Kiyoshi seemed to have a lightbulb go on over his head. "Then, were you eating at Maji Burger with Kuroko just now?"

Kagami felt a frown form on his face, which was now beginning to go pale at the mention of his basketball partner. He thought of the way Kuroko had looked right before he had taken off for the meeting.

He had never felt so guilty before.

* * *

Aomine didn't know how to approach Momoi.

They weren't even in the same class, and Momoi spent her lunch that certain day helping the student council with something. She _had_ to choose the day that Aomine had decided to swallow his pride on.

It wasn't that he was afraid of apologizing (but it's part of the reason), it was because he didn't know how to go up to the manager without having his butt dragged to basketball practice. (Well, that and the fact that he really didn't want to ask to have the object that physically represented Momoi's affection for Kuroko. And anyways, their relationship is pretty hopeless, because Kuroko didn't even like her in that way in the first place.)

Sure, Seirin, that Bakagami and his former "shadow" had beaten him during the Winter Cup. Sure, he promised himself that he would work harder from there on out, but still, can't he have some days off?

Despite his outward indifference (which were, in reality, complaints) towards the scavenger hunt for Kuroko's shoes, Aomine was actually very diligent. He stayed up late into the night, rummaging through old boxes filled with dusty items and distant memories.

He unlocked his front door, and the biting wind that had steadily strengthened disappeared as he stepped into the shelter of his home. Aomine shivered. Central heating would really be a nice thing, and he had no time to go relax under the _kotatsu_.

The blue haired ace would have really appreciated it to be warmer. He really liked sleeping on the school's rooftop.

At least it didn't snow yet.

One thing that irked Aomine was snow. It looked nice when it was falling and everything, but to walk through it? No. Though throwing snowballs at people was pretty fun.

He set his bag down on the floor beside the entrance, and proceeded to the small, windowless room where his family put all of their old stuff.

Switching on the lights, Aomine plopped himself down next to an already opened cardboard box with its contents practically spilling out.

Near his feet was the list of the items to find that had been left there the night before. It was really tiring business.

Aomine hadn't talked with any of his Teikou teammates about the scavenger hunt yet, other than Kise, and he wondered what things they might have had just lying around the house. He wondered if those things could be any of the items he was killing his sleep to find.

_Trading cards._

The power forward scrunched up his eyebrows. He definitely didn't have one of those. Maybe Midorima?

He scanned the jumble of words further. That _tsundere_really was a valuable ally to have. Knowing that guy, he would probably _nanodayo_ his way out of it, and then "accidentally" drop the said item for someone to pick up.

_"Nanodayo! I dropped my nanodayo and it nanodayo-ed! It's nanodayo-ed now, you should nanodayo the nanodayo and nanodayo but nanodayo nanodayo nanodayo..."_

Aomine smacked himself on the head to get the endless chant of "nanodayo" out of his brain. It was slowly poisoning his brain cells, and what if he started talking like the shooting guard as well? The thought horrified him, and he began to sort through things faster.

'_Ah, here. A net and toy car._'

He remembered using the net to catch crayfish with when he was little. Whenever he visited his grandparents in the country, Aomine had always spent his time running around, exploring.

The toy car had been the first birthday gift from Momoi, who took care of a neighbour's goldfish for a period of time long enough that Aomine couldn't even recall just to save up money for his present. Of course, fish really didn't need taking care of, so Momoi didn't get paid a lot, but back then, Momoi and him had thought that feeding fish was an extremely exciting thing, and with the addition of a salary, it was almost too perfect.

The tanned boy held the two objects in his hands, turning them over to inspect them. The little dent on the bumper of the car from the time he had dropped it, the hole in the net that had ended its crayfish catching life.

However, these things are merely objects with a little bit of meaning behind them. Aomine would easily give all of those up, if it was for Kuroko.

* * *

"Shin-chan, how many lucky items do you need for tomorrow?" Takao asked, eyeing the three bags Midorima carried, brimming with slightly useless knick-knacks. Not that he would ever make _that_ comment out loud to the horoscope obsessed shooting guard.

The black haired boy sometimes wondered how the inside of Midorima's house must look like. And what does his parents think of it? Maybe they think that it's just a normal stage of puberty or something?

"One, of course," the other replied, giving Takao a weird look as he put the bags into the rickshaw cart. Takao watched as a sheet of paper slid out of one of the bags. Midorima had turned to disappear into the convenience store that the rickshaw was parked by, so Takao grabbed the paper.

It was filled with columns of random words, like "poster", "pineapple",and "eyeliner". Takao made a face as he tried to make some sort of a connection between the words. "Candle", "fabric", "band-aid"...

The point guard scratched his ear, his gaze focused intently on the ink. He heard someone walk out of the store.

"Uh, Shin-chan? Don't tell me this is a shopping list..."

It'd be crazy if it was. Just from looking at it, Takao estimated there to be more than a hundred things on there. And he did _not_ want to bike everywhere to collect all that stuff! (he's never had much hope for winning the rock-paper-scissors matches between him and the green haired boy, anyways. Maybe those lucky items do indeed work)

So it was natural for Takao to sigh in relief when he heard a raspy yell from Midorima. "Don't be an idiot! And why are you looking at my stuff?!"

Maybe he shouldn't be feeling as relieved as he is, but after being around Midorima long enough, Takao really wasn't scared of whatever Midorima might do to get back at him. Not for doing something so trivial like reading a piece of paper, anyways.

But the Shuutoku ace hadn't finished. "It's a scavenger hunt list."

"Huh?" Takao raised an eyebrow. A scavenger hunt? That actually sounded sort of fun. "What for? Are you trying to get an awesome super rare, limited version of a teddy bear for you lucky item, but it can only be obtained through this scavenger hunt?"

Immediately, the raven haired boy jerked sideways to avoid an incoming hand. It landed its target on his face instead. A loud "ow, Shin-chan!" was heard, as Takao rubbed his stinging cheek.

"None of your business!" Midorima grumbled as he opened a newly bought can of warm red bean soup. Takao watched as he began to gulp down its contents.

"Do you need help with it? It's a lot of things for a scavenger hunt," the shorter boy offered, and Midorima tilted the can into an extreme angle before he let it leave his lips.

"I don't need any help! I only need to get thirty or so of those, and the rest is up to that moron Kise and..." he trailed off, realizing that he had revealed that more people were involved in the scavenger hunt.

Takao's eyes brightened. "Then, I'm going to help too! If it's Shin-chan's business, then it's my business too! Don't worry, Shin-chan, I'll make sure that you definitely get that awesome super rare, limited version of the teddy bear!"

Midorima looked as if he was going to explode at any moment. "It's not for me!"

"It's ok, don't be embarrassed, Shin-chan! I accept you for who you are, so-"

"Shut up, Takao. I said that it's not for me! It's for Kurok-"

"Eh? So your teammate wants an awesome super rare, limited teddy bear?"

Midorima looked like he wanted to smash his head against a wall.

Takao grinned. The other boy amused him to no end, and plus, Midorima hadn't actually rejected his help yet.

Sweet contentment bubbled up in his chest.

'T_his feeling...how cheesy_.'

* * *

...

_kotatsu_: (in case you didn't know, but i sorta doubt it) a low table with a heater that has blankets underneath it (wow my explanation really suck too)

...uh. haha. I didn't plan anything at all, so..it's horrible, so I'm sorry. If you have any suggestions, please tell me x'D

(in other words, I'm sorta stuck)

Once again, I'm really thankful for your support and for you to actually read this ^^ I hope you liked it haha :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_5. Bitterness Is Stronger After Eating Something Sweet_

* * *

_He had been nibbling at his straw, instead of drinking his milkshakes like he usually did. The boy sighed, looking at the darkening sky, a sky with a deep blue that reminded him of his "light". A light that was no longer there, across from his own seat with a pile of teriyaki burgers. No longer was he grinning at his own idiocy for stuffing too many burgers into his mouth at once._

_The taste of his favourite treat had been off today, not as soothing and even made him want to gag a little. _

_He heard a 'clack', and felt the table quiver slightly beneath the elbows that had been propped on top of its surface. _

_The boy turned his head to look at the figure across from him, and blinked. _

_Red eyes stared back at him instead of blue ones, filled with spirit as opposed to dullness._

_He watched as the redhead bit into the cheeseburger that he had picked from a whole tray full of, and proceeded to look outthe window as he chewed loudly._

_Suddenly, the taller boy froze, reverting his eyes to the other sitting there. _

_Kuroko tried not to smile as the American returnee choked and sputtered out questions while bits of food came flying out his mouth. _

_He uttered the word quietly._

_"Hello."_

* * *

"I found a lot of stuff at Mitobe's house, and I think we filled up an entire garbage bag full of it!" Koganei reported, grinning at Mitobe, who smiled back slightly.

Riko raised an eyebrow. "How about this? I'll give you each a copy of a checklist for he items we all found. I'll assign you each to a section of this list. If you can't find it, tell each other so that other people can help. This should avoid any unnessesary repeats."

A rumble of assent was heard, along with a sizzle as Kagami flipped yet another okonomiyaki. (his sixth one, not that he was counting)

As the checklist was passed around for each person to affirm whatever they had found, Riko began to assign sections.

Kagami placed his cooked pancake onto a plate, and squirted mayonnaise all over it. As much as he liked eating different food, right now, he'd rather be eating his cheeseburgers.

He half-heartedly lifted up a piece of food to his mouth. As anyone would know, Kagami Taiga is never, _ever_ half-hearted when is comes to edible things.

"Bakagami! What are you spacing out for? Check the list!" The female voice became slightly shrilly at the end, borderline hysterical. "I've been waving this in front of your face for thirty seconds now! Don't you dare pretend I'm Kuroko-kun, I know you can see me!"

Kagami blinked, and there indeed was a piece of paper and a pen being flailed about in front of his nose. He set the chopsticks down with the uneaten okonomiyaki, and grabbed the things before he got a paper cut on his nose or something stupid like that.

'_The gorilla__'s out to get me again. Someone, put her back in her cage_.'

Kagami scanned the list, seeing that at least half of the total number was marked. He glanced up at a brief moment to see Hyuuga's fist swing towards Kiyoshi's head, as the latter began to laugh about something stupid. The first-years were showing off their okonomiyaki making skills to each other, and Izuki, Koganei, along with Mitobe were talking about the teacher who gave out too much useless homework. (Well, Mitobe was just listening and nodding, but whatever)

Riko was still glaring at him though, so the ace's eyes immediately focused back on the sheet before him.

They were trying so hard, for something they could have ignored.

Kagami thought of Kuroko once again, and grinned to himself.

How happy would his "shadow" have been to see the team that he loved so much work together like this.

* * *

Aomine shoved the objects into a cardboard box, and yawned. It was getting kind of late, and he was hungry.

As the dark skinned boy made his way to the kitchen to look for leftovers in the fridge, he heard his cell phone ring. At first, he ignored it, opting to microwave a plate of curry and rice instead. However, the annoying sound continued, and he groaned before stalking to where his bag lied, reaching in one of its pockets to retrieve his phone.

There was two missed calls and about twenty-five messages.

Aomine gave up reading any further after the first message:

**To: Aomine Daiki**

**From: Kise Ryouta**

**Subject: WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME AOMINECHIIII (´Д` )**

**AOMINECCHI PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REPLY AKASHICCHI'S GONNA KILL ME IF I DON'T GIVE HIM A LIST OF ALL THE ITEMS THE REST OF US FOUND WAHHHH (＞人＜;)**

**PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE (つД`)ノ**

For a brief moment, Aomine considered letting that moron die at Akashi's hands. However, even Kise didn't deserve a death like that, so Aomine decided to be nice and went to get his sheet of paper ー though the tanned boy tried to convince himself that the only reason that he was doing such a charitable thing was because it was for Tetsu, after all, and the fact that he needed someone to play one-on-one with, which wouldn't work out too well if Kise was dead.

As Aomine snatched up the paper, he tightened his hold on the phone as he realized just how many items he had actually found.

Maybe he had overestimated the scavenger hunt, because he was actually halfway through it already. And there were five of them in total working on this thing, right? (well, he still has to tell Momoi...)

On the other hand, the power forward knew that he had to send all this to Kise. He was working pretty hard these days, but still!

He doesn't know if he should be glad that 50% of the stupid scavenger was done ー hence 50% of make-Kuroko-happy was complete ー or doomed because he was responsible for his friend's life.

And texting all that didn't seem to be a good idea.

Aomine let out a frustrated groan as he trudged upstairs to his room, turning on his laptop. While waiting for the old thingto start up, Aomine messaged Kise back before the guy can have a heart attack and spam his inbox even more

When he began to type after signing into his email account, Aomine almost regretted letting the blond live. He could always find an excuse to play Bakagami, right?

He wasn't the fastest typer in the world, and wished that he could just hand the list over to Kise. But it seemed like the Kaijou ace was desperate, and now Aomine was also beginning to regret not apologizing to Momoi. She could type pretty well, and to tell the truth, Aomine would be the slowest typer you have ever met.

'_Kise, you owe me. Tetsu and Akashi too. Damn this stupid contest!_'

* * *

Kuroko sat alone at his usual spot beside the window, watching the sunset, slowly sipping away at his vanilla shake. The mix of orange and gold blended into a brilliant red, and Kuroko looked across the table, expecting to see a shock of hair just as bright as the sky.

However, there was no one there, there was no tray with a pile of burgers stacked into a pyramid.

Was it happening again?

The teal haired boy closed his eyes, not wanting to see the display of colours outside from his peripherals.

How long ago was it, when he and Kagami had met?

It seemed as if they had known each other for more than merely a year. A year...Kagami was slowly progressing to become stronger than even his former "light", but could people really change so suddenly?

Kuroko had been watching Kagami carefully, ever since the last match against Touou in the Winter Cup. He had seen no signs of a fading love for basketball in those eyes that burned with fire, no signs of anything other than _passion_.

He believed in him.

But the sweetness of his milkshake left a slightly bitter aftertaste.

* * *

...

k so I realized that I left Kuroko there at the restaurant on standby for a chapter xD

but wow I really wanna include Murasakibara and Akashi, but they just live so far away and whdlahfsjahsl (and idk how to write them)

and i'm also sorry for any typos cuz I wrote everything on my iPod and I hope it never auto corrected it to something weird and sometimes i just don't notice

/slapped

soo

thanks for reading, and thanks for the support /smooches.

(I also feel like the titles are getting very Gintama-ish o_o)


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

...

* * *

6. _Sometimes It's Too Sweet, Sometimes It's Not Sweet Enough  
_

* * *

The entire list of items, in general, was fairly easy to get. It was just a matter of effort to find those random trinkets. The only problems would be the items nearing the end...

And just as luck would have it, Kagami was assigned to the last section in the scavenger hunt list, which he noticed was actually the hardest ones.

'_Oh look. So an autograph from a famous basketball person._'

He just wanted to screw it all and go to sleep.

With basketball pratice and school (he actually tries to do his homework, he's not that dumb), Kagami barely had any free time nowadays, especially with the addition of the scavenger hunt.

The good thing was that he had found most, if not all, of the items he was supposed to find. Except for the autograph thing.

And frankly, he had no idea how he was going to get that.

It was currently lunchtime, and his "shadow" went who-knows-where. Kuroko hadn't talked to him all morning, except for a curt "good morning" from the other.

The shorter boy had put his misdirection into use the moment the bell had rang for lunch, disappearing into thin air.

Kagami climbed up to the school's rooftop, arms full of sandwiches he had made the night before, the list of scavenger hun items clenched in between his teeth.

He never ate by himself before. He and Kuroko had always eaten lunch together on the rooftop, and eventually it would end up having Kagami lying on the ground, staring at the sky, while Kuroko would take out another one of those complicated books of his.

Kagami had always loved the colour of the sky.

For some strange reason, he had no appetite as he lied down with a pile of food beside him. There was that uncomfortable feeling in his chest and at the bottom of his stomach.

'..._Nausea?_' But it wasn't like he was sick or ate anything weird. '_Am I constipated or something?_'

Whatever it was, Kagami certainly disliked it. When he finds out the root cause of it, he swore he would never want to feel it again.

After the last bell for the day had rung, the redhead turned around in his seat, expecting to see the smaller boy packing up his things. However, no one was present, and dejectedly, Kagami began to head off to basketball practice.

To think that Kuroko had gone before him, it was strange to find the gym void of the blue haired boy. '_He...can't be skipping practice...right?__'_

There was no way that the phantom player of the Generation of Miracles would skip practice unless he was sick or injured or busy with something important enough.

Kagami picked up a ball from a rack, and dribbled it, absent-minded, towards Hyuuga, who was having a chat with the coach. "Er, Captain? Have you seen Kuroko around?"

He was promptly ignored, and his split brows furrowed. "Captain?"

Again, no indication that his existence was even acknowledged.

"Capta-"

A hard, round object hit him in the forehead, right above the bridge of his nose. The impact was strong enough, and sudden enough, to make the redhead lose his balance. He stumbled, and fell backwards.

Somewhere along the line, he had closed his eyes as he resigned to his fate of a sore bottom, and once his lids fluttered open again, he was met with the most pissed off face he has ever seen from Hyuuga.

Kagami gulped. '_That's the Devil's face. It's gonna appear in my nightmares tonight. It's definitely appearing in my nightmares tonight, along with girly Ahomine, dancing around with Kise. The face is gonna float right behind Kise, and then it's gonna open its mouth, showing its shark teeth, and then...' _

He shuddered from the intensity of the glare, and realized that another one from Riko was also fixated upon him.

"Kagami-kun, where's Kuroko-kun?" The voice was high, almost cooing at him. The Seirin ace's shivers became more pronounced. His head throbbed at the spot where the basketball had hit him.

"W-wait, C-coach! I was just asking that!"

"Hah?" Hyuuga cracked his knuckles. It caused Kagami to scramble backwards, away from the second-year, who was emitting a venomous aura. He could probably take the captain on, but it wouldn't end well for him, being kicked out of the team. "Is that what you were bothering me for?"

To Kagami's surprise, Riko beamed. "Kagami-kun! This is a perfect chance to see what we've gathered as a team so far, since Kuroko-kun isn't here!"

'_Eh? Something's wrong here._'

Did the coach just ditch the idea of having an actual practice to check up on everyone progress in the scavenger hunt? '_And I don't think Kuroko skipping practice is a good thing, so don't say it as if it's the best thing that could happen in the world!'_

Immediately, Kagami was suspicious. She was planning something.

A whistle blew, and the members of the basketball club came running in to gather around the three. "Alright! Hand over your scavenger hunt sheets, everyone!"

"Huh?"

The players looked strangely at her, then each other.

Izuki spoke up. "Um, I left it in my bag. I thought we were just practicing today."

'_So did I._'

"Well, plans change, am I right?" The brunette smiled. That simple gesture sent the lot of them scurrying off to grab their lists.

Kagami still couldn't shake the feeling of dread as he returned. Many others had given her their sheets already, and he watched the girl read over the pieces of papers, the grin on her face becoming wider. Although beside her, Hyuuga was scowling, as always.

"Good job, everyone!" Glances were exchanged between the team members as Riko crumpled up all the papers, except for two. One of them were handed to Kagami. "As of now, the hunt is almost complete! We just have one person who needs to complete his job."

All eyes turned towards Kagami, whose face turned beet red.

"It's hard, ok?! Seriously! Did any of you have to look for a―" Kagami paused his protest to read the items he hadn't checked off or crossed out. "A teddy bear with sunglasses and is holding a lollipop in his paws! How specific can you get?! Da-"

A hand slapped over his mouth, reminding him of his similar actions towards the coach when he had first told her about Kuroko's birthday. The shorter girl still had her smile plastered onto her face. "_Baka_gami-kun," she said smoothly as she stared the first-year in the eyes. "The deadline for the contest is in _two_ _days_. You're responsible for this mess that had taken all this time out of practice, so you _better win this thing_. Also, I'm doubling the training menu for all of you to make up for it. Now get to work, everyone!"

For a moment, no one moved, as they processed the coach's words. That sense of dread disappeared, replaced by something similar to fear.

"Eh?!" Fukuda cried out, Furihata gaping beside him.

"Coach! Even us? I thought it'd just be Kagami, but―" Koganei started, but was interrupted by Hyuuga.

"Kagami! If you don't get that pair of shoes, I will personally come and _kill _you!" Their captain was seething with fury, most likely because of the training thing. Though, afterwards, Hyuuga was probably gonna say something like "the extra training made us stronger" and "that extra training was worth it".

The red haired boy had the feeling that captain wasn't bluffing, though. "Jeez! I'm gonna get the shoes, ok? Stop yelling!"

All the commotion had died down after that (though Riko had helped by ordering everyone to start practicing, with the threat of tripling the training hanging over their heads if they didn't work hard enough), but Kagami couldn't stop worrying about how the hell he was going to get those last few items.

Through the entire practice, Kuroko didn't show up at all.

* * *

Aomine checked off the last item with a satisfied grunt and stood up, stretching. He had regretted taking the responsibility of acquiring almost half of the total items at first, but now that he had finished, that feeling of achievement hadn't been so sweet since the championship victory in his second year of middle school. He wondered how proud Momoi would be of him. Or angry, depending.

Aomine still hadn't apologized yet.

He'd never admit it, but he was pretty thankful for the help from his former teammates. Never after graduating from middle school had the tanned boy really thought that interacting like this with the Teikou team would be possible. Not until after Touou's defeat during the Winter Cup of course, not until Kuroko had beaten him.

And that's another thing he probably would never say out loud, because he didn't want to seem grateful to _Bakagami Taiga_, of all people. Because thanking Kuroko in such an outright way would be like thanking that red haired moron.

Aomine hoped that this present would make up for it, make up for the "thank you" that never came out of his mouth. That fist bump and admittance of his loss was the best he could offer while saving his pride during the time, so maybe Kuroko will be able to see all the effort that the Touou ace had put into this scavenger hunt.

It was merely a day until the deadline of the scavenger hunt. Aomine had to wait until Akashi and Murasakibara came in from Kyoto and Akita so that the items would all be gathered together, ready to be handed in.

The ace could only cross his fingers that they'll be the first ones to get the items in. In his opinion, they had worked fast, beyond what he had imagined ― and he had pretty high expectations.

'_Nah. Impossible. The only one who can get this pair of shoes is me!'_

Maybe a little dramatic, but that's the only way he could convince himself that no one else would be able to win that thing before he goes bald from the worrying. He doesn't like to worry. Despite all that, though, a small voice in the back of his mind nagged at him.

To distract himself, he padded down the hall, intending to get some food from the kitchen. Now that he wasn't so concentrated on the scavenger hunt, he remembered that he hadn't eaten yet. However, he was stopped by the buzzing of his phone as it lit up on the counter, and Aomine picked it up.

"Hello?"

_"Aominecchi! Hey!"_

"Hurry it up, Kise. I'm hungry," the dark skinned boy grumbled as he leaned back into the counter.

_"So mean! Anyways, we agreed that everything will be brought over to your house tomorrow. Akashicchi should be there by lunch, and Murasakibaracchi will get to Tokyo around three in the afternoon. Be ready, ok?" _

"Yeah, yeah." His stomach growled, and Aomine headed over to the fridge, sticking his head in. "By the way, I'm done looking for all my stuff, just thought you should know."

"_Really?__ That's great, then! Midorimacchi told me he only had a few left to go, and I'm done! So I'll come over tomorrow?_"

Cabbage. Celery. Carrots. Aomine shuffled things around, not seeing anything particularly appetizing. "Whatever."

"_Ok__ then! I think we should help Midorimacchi with his things! He got the hardest ones! We can do it in the morning, when Akashicchi hasn't arrived yet._"

Some raw salmon and sliced beef. The tall boy shut the fridge door with a thud, and went to look in some of the cupboards. His parents were out again, and frankly, he was just too lazy to make anything himself. "Don't bother. That_ kappa_ won't accept any help, anyways."

"_So__ mean, Aominecchi! You just call him a kappa! But I think it will be fun, don't you think? Just you, me and Midorimacchi!_"

To be honest, he didn't find hanging out with the horoscope freak that fun. "Don't drag me into this, Kise."

"_But_ _Aominecchi!_"The whine from the other end of the line had the Touou ace holding his phone away from his ear. "_Please? Please please please?_"

"Kise―_"_

"_Please please please please please? Pretty please?_"

Aomine found a cup of instant ramen. "No."

"_But Midorimacchi won't find his stuff!_"

Aomine didn't reply as he began to boil water for the noodles. Kise, hearing no clear dissent or assent, continued. _"And then if he can't find his stuff, you can't get those shoes for Kurokocchi!"_

That made him stop, and his muscles tensed up hearing Kuroko's name.

'_Ah, that's right. I've been suffering through this entire thing because of him_.'

He wasn't exactly about to throw away all his hard work because of that green haired guy. The blond seemed almost smug when he next spoke. "_Think about it, ok, Aominecchi?_"

Breathing a loud sigh as the water began bubbling, Aomine uttered, "fine."

* * *

...

omg I wonder how long this is gonna be...xD

I'm sorry for any errors, once again, because I'm writing these all my iPod (the end of our basketball season is near, so I think they wanna kill us before then.)

my brain is getting fried because of a stupid project at school whch is like worth half our total marks so excuse any stupidity I show orz and plus...I hurried on this because i don't know why my brain is pretty dead so.

thanks for reading up to this point, I'm truly grateful for it. Just aghjskalga. Thank you _so_ much ;A;


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

...

* * *

_7. Sweet Things Can Make You Fat, You Know?_

* * *

It was a Sunday, so Takao had thought he would have been able to sleep in, or _at least to have been able to sleep until seven._

But too bad for him, his phone was spammed constantly by a certain green haired ace. Takao groaned and rolled over as he heard the seventh ring, followed by buzzing as he received texts. The boy was tempted to just turn the stupid device off, but it was Midorima after all, and he wouldn't be bugging Takao over something unimportant. And it felt a little backwards, to be bothered by Midorima, that is.

Groggily, Takao's left arm slapped his bedside table, feeling for the small cell phone. Once he grasped it, another round of the ringtone came on, and the point guard flipped the phone open, blearily trying to read the hoard of messages.

It took some effort to focus on the swirl of black characters on the screen, and Takao squinted. He didn't really comprehend much of it, as he was still half asleep, but he got the gist of it.

Was it backwards day today? Midorima seemed to be _panicking_.

Grunting as he sat up into an upright position, Takao scratched his disheveled hair and yawned. '_Shin-chan must care about his teammates a lot, huh?_'

Being desperate wasn't Midorima's thing, not really. It almost brought a grin onto Takao's face, despite how tired he felt. It wasn't everyday that the Shuutoku ace would lose his composure, especially not over the phone.

He quickly messaged the shooting guard back before the other could get a panic attack or something. That guy was like an old man sometimes, and Takao felt like if he didn't take care of him properly, Midorima would really end up in the hospital for being a worrywart. Takao couldn't remember how many times in the past year that he had shown up at Midorima's house with the rickshaw just to find the other boy with extremely noticeable bags under his eyes, all the while holding an armful of lucky items. You could say that he was pretty paranoid.

Though it was really sweet of the ace that one time when Takao had learned, incidentally when he was checking the weather that morning on TV, that Oha Asa hadn't really made the Totoro stuffy Cancer's lucky item, even though Midorima was clutching onto the large stuffed character like he was hanging on for dear life. Instead, it was for the Scorpio signs, who were to have bad luck that day.

Admittedly, it did sort of save the point guard, when Midorima had asked him to hold onto the gray stuffy for him while he dug through his own bag for his lunch. At that exact moment, someone had tripped while holding a container of steaming hot stew, fresh from the microwave, and the contents of that's person's lunch had spilled all over the stuffy.

Takao could still hear the sizzling.

Shivering from the unpleasant memories, the black haired boy stood to go get ready. The clock read fifteen minutes after seven, and the sky was just beginning to lighten outside.

It was as he was eating his breakfast of _anpan_ and _dorayaki_ (yeah, he wasn't really the healthiest kid in the world, and his taste buds have been too influenced by Midorima's red bean soup) that he noticed the reply from shooting guard.

**To: Takao Kazunari**

**From: Shin-chan A.K.A. The Tsundere**

**Subject: It's not like I care about this or anything... **

**Don't get me wrong, Takao. It's only because Akashi is forcing me to do this stupid scavenger hunt that I'm trying at all. I could care less, but because I value my life, I need to get all the items today. So it's not like I care. Because I don't. **

**We're meeting up at nine o'clock at Shibuya Station with Kise and Aomine, so come to my house first with the rickshaw.**

The message almost made Takao choke on the bread, and as he laughed he could feel the red bean paste sticking to his throat. It made it worse when he tried to swallow, and ended up having the bread parts stuck in his throat along with the sweet paste.

'_Shin-chan, you realize that you just said the same thing three times, right?_' Midorima, funny as always.

For a brief moment, Takao tried to imagine how the outing would go with the two forwards. Kise was nice enough, and Aomine's attitude seemed to have pacified some since the Winter Cup, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Plus, he could probably wriggle some embarrassing stories from the two about Midorima.

After calming down and drinking some milk, which effectively washed down the red bean, Takao froze. Then he looked at the text again. Then the clock on the wall, ticking away slowly, as if mocking him. He wanted to go back to bed now.

'_Hey, hey...it's not even eight yet!_'

* * *

Kagami decided to explore his own neighbourhood for the strange items that he was required to find, remembering that there was a shop that he always passed by on the way to school that sold some pretty weird things.

He had always wondered how that store was still in business, considering all the useless products they sold in there. Maybe it was for people in situations like him. Though, how often did that happen?

The redhead stopped as he reached his destination, head tilting back to eye the front of the shop. It was relatively small, but after the bookstore Momoi and he had went to, he didn't think much of it. The display window was slightly dirty, and the place just looked shabby in general. As he grabbed the door handle, he noticed that there were another three people inside.

Maybe this place was moving along fine, after all. Never judge a book by their cover, they say.

Kagami pulled the entrance open, hearing a loud creak as the old door swung shut behind him.

Immediately, his nose was assaulted with the smell of traditional Chinese medicine. '_The hell are they even selling in here?!_'

To his left, on a shelf with chipping white paint, were an array of all sorts of random items. A wooden koi fish phone charm, an alarm clock which either ran out of battery or is broken, a dusty teddy bear with stuffing coming out of one of its eyes, which were shaped really weirdly, looking just like a black rectangle...

The Seirin ace turned to his other side, seeing an identical shelf, holding similar items in terms of uselessness.

'_Wait..._'

Kagami whipped his head to the left again, searching for the bear. When he located it, he held back a girly squeal. There it is! The bear held a lollipop with pink and white swirls, and the "weird eyes" from before were actually the lenses of a pair of sunglasses!

The power forward reached forward to grab it, when another hand appeared out of nowhere. Kagami snatched up the bear, and jerked his hands back to protect it from the other customer. No way was he going to give this up, even if the other person who wants it is an old granny with a dying husband buying it for her granddaughter!

Though he really hoped that it wasn't the case.

And the good news is, that it wasn't the case.

But the bad news is that the other person turned out to be a familiar dark skinned boy with an irritated look on his face.

"Do you really need to sleep with a teddy bear at your age? I have some better uses for it, so give it here," Aomine growled, extending his hand towards the stuffed bear.

Kagami tightened his grip on the stuffy just in case the jerk was going to rip it away from him. His prediction proved to be correct as tanned fingers wrapped around the fur of the bear. "What's that? What do you plan to use it for? Are that you that desperate for friends that you're willing to go as far as getting a stuffed animal to talk to?"

The red haired boy could almost hear Aomine grinding his teeth as he tried to yank the stuffy away from Kagami. "_Bakagami_, let go!"

Kagami bristled at the nickname, which coming from the Touou ace's mouth was probably the most infuriating thing ever. "I got it first, so it's mine! Go and have a tea party with your other imaginary friends, _Ahomine_!" _  
_

The two had both hands on the bear now, twisting the poor stuffy this way and that, trying to get it out of the other's grasp.

It was then, that an annoying voice cut in. "Hey, hey, you two! Stop fighting! You're going to rip the stuffy apar―"

Kagami, panicked a little after hearing Kise's voice, and realized that Aomine now had reinforcements. Suddenly, he remembered a time that seemed far too distant now, back in America, when he had first played basketball. This was a pretty similar situation, right?

"Jump ball!" The words came out of his mouth like the way anime characters like to yell out their attack moves.

On instinct, Kagami pivoted, turning in a circle to face away from the startled tanned boy and ripping the teddy bear away from the other's hands, glimpsing an expression of surprise on Aomine's face.

He backed up into one of the shelves and hid the stuffy behind himself to prevent any further attempts at grabbing it.

"What the hell was that?!" Aomine lunged at Kagami, who stepped out of the way as he watched Kise's pale arms trap the other power forward before he could knock Kagami out. Though it might as well have been the other way around, because there was no way that Kagami would lose to that idiot in a fight.

In a brief moment of stupidity, Kagami lifted the bear up, intending to taunt the other boy, when he noticed the state of the toy. It now had cotton stuffing coming out of opened seams on the side of the bear's belly, and the Seirin ace's mouth fell open.

"Look what you did now!"

Aomine sent Kagami a scowl.

"I found it," another voice interrupted the fight, and all three basketball players turned to stare at Midorima. The said boy held a stuffy that was an exact replica of the one Aomine and Kagami had ripped apart a few seconds earlier, only it was obviously in a better shape.

The blue haired boy wriggled his way out of Kise's grasp. "Tch," Aomine didn't even spare another glance at Kagami as he walked further into the shop, studying the small items he passed. Red eyebrows twitched, and Kagami looked down at the stuffy he held. It wasn't in the best condition, but it was recognizable, at least. Maybe he could get a discount.

Or not. The store owner, who sat quietly behind a glass counter, had seen the entire scenario. Kagami flushed and looked away at Kise.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as Aomine plucked a bird made entire of straw up from an unorganized pile of straw animals. (Some were dolls, which sort of scared him.)

Racking his brain, Kagami remembered that the bird was on the scavenger hunt list.

His heart rate sped up noticeably, and Kagami hoped that the others in the shop won't be able to tell that he was sweating bullets.

It worsened as he realized that Kise was holding a mini book. A joke book.

The grin the blond gives him almost gives him a heart attack, as he replied, "we're helping Midorimacchi look for his items!"

Kagami's heart had almost stopped by the time Kise had started speaking, but hearing those words, the red haired ace let out a loud sigh of relief. How anti-climatic. "His lucky items?"

Kise blinked, and smiled. Kagami really didn't expect what came next.

"Lucky items? No, we're helping him look for his items on a scavenger hunt, Kagamicchi!"

* * *

...

hi there! Happy tip-off day? xD (my feels are making me have a slight attack and i can't wait for season 2 now aHJAKGLDLKHG)

I'm...like...does this story even make sense anymore i can't even x'D

So it should be over soon, I feel so awkward writing about Kuroko's birthday even though it's pretty much twenty something days ago...(I think so anyways, I can't do math ok)

btw, the chapter titles...they're getting...very weird..haha..well I was just mostly trying to think up of some sort of metaphor related to your taste buds for things that happen in life, and I'm sort of getting really hopeless, so excuse me I shall go farm pineapples now

thanks for reading, and thanks for the support! ^^ /hugs


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

* * *

_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

* * *

_..._

* * *

_8. You Develop A New Taste For Things As You Go Along In Life_

* * *

It must be hard being Midorima's mother, Takao decided as he finally reached the store where the green haired shooter always came to for his lucky items.

Even as he parked the cart out in front of the store, (it was a small street, with no cars allowed) Takao could hear some loud banging from inside the shop, whose walls _should_ have been able to prevent more sounds from escaping. At this point, a neighbour might suspect something and call the cops.

"Must be lively today," he murmured as he trudged up to the door, and his hand stopped short of the door handle as he spotted an angry Aomine being hugged by Kise.

'_Hey, hey, what's this? PDA?_' He squinted at the two. '_Whaaa? They're together? Well, I guess it was sort of inevitable...' _He's not dumb, he's seen the way Kise made puppy faces at the other, begging for one-on-one matches like a child asking for a new toy. Aomine couldn't be said to not have liked it either, because from what Takao heard from his basketball partner, the boy had a total 180 degrees change in personality when he played against Kise on the streets without the burden of having a team to drag down with them if one lost.

Midorima appeared, and Takao had to stifle an obnoxious laugh as he watched the shooting guard hold up the strangest stuffed bear with the most serious expression on his face. Aomine scowled and ripped himself away from Kise, and went further into the shop. Takao swore he saw a pout appear on Kise's lips, before the normal charming model facade replaced it.

Contemplating whether he should spy on the three further, he saw the shop owner staring at him strangely through the window. Maybe it was better to go in, rather than lurking there like a creep and getting the police called. The neighbours had it rough, already. So early in the morning, at that. He waved at the owner, trying to lessen the awkwardness, but only received a even weirder glance in return.

'_Ah, great. He thinks I have mental issues now_.' It didn't work out well for him, having to bike here pretty much everyday. Having to drag a rickshaw behind him didn't help either.

Pushing open the door, he heard a rough laugh, and a flash of scarlet caught his eyes. "Eh? Kagami?"

The redhead turned to face Takao, his eyes filled to the brim with tears that threatened to spill over at any second. "Kise, you need to get checked for chronic lying. It's not good for your health."

The blond blinked, his unnaturally long eyelashes fluttering into a blur similar to those of a hummingbird's flapping wings. "Uhh...Kagamicchi, why would I lie about something like that?"

Takao moved towards the entrance of the shop, as a strange expression formed on Kagami's features. It was like he was torn between two emotions, ripping someone's throat out or smiling to humour someone you didn't take seriously. If Kagami was deaf, the black haired boy would have warned Kise to run, too.

"It's...the prize doesn't happen to be a pair of basketball shoes, is it?"

Kise leaned forward to stare wide-eyed at Kagami. "Kagamicchi! Are you serious?"

It seemed from Takao's perspective that the small forward was purposely teasing Kagami with the way he worded his sentences so _vaguely_ that it was almost maddening, because the answer went either way. Kagami was looking at Kise with a disbelieving expression, like this was all a bad dream and it would be over before he knew it.

Sometimes ignorance was a blessing. Takao wasn't too thrilled to see the redhead's reactions, either.

"Quit beating around the bush and tell me already!" Kagami had closed his eyes, and pinching the bridge of his nose, seeming as exasperated as Takao would have imagined him to be.

"You're too loud. It's none of your business, Kagami," Midorima cut in, glaring at the raven haired point guard while he was at it, and reluctantly, Takao moved away from the door, past a certain seething power forward. Having four aces of rival schools together was bound to end up in some sort of conflict, but teaming up on Kagami seemed a little cruel. Usually, Takao would have been greatly amused to see such a scenario, but today he just felt sorry for the red haired boy.

"It is so part of my business," Kagami spat, ominous intent dripping from every word as he clenched his jaw. "Because I'm doing a scavenger hunt, and I need to know if I have competition."

Kise stepped back, leaving a gap between him and Kagami, albeit a small gap, since the aisles were fairly narrow. Takao watched as the power forward narrowed his eyes upon seeing the blond's eyes flitting about nervously, glancing everywhere but in his direction.

"So you _are_ doing that contest!" The Seirin ace was fuming, menacing stare pointed at Kise, and then at Midorima. His scowl was then redirected at Takao, who flinched at the sudden attention. "What are you doing it for? 'Cause I bet I'll need those shoes more than you do."

At that, the model straightened his back, noticeably taller than a few moments before. Kagami turned back to him as Kise met his gaze with a newly found confidence, now that he was over his shock of the knowledge that the redhead was also participating in the contestwith almost a smug smile on his face. "How would you know, Kagamicchi? We're getting it for someone special to us."

The red haired boy's glare intensified. Midorima, next to him, look like a buttercup compared to Kagami. If only looks could kill, then everyone in the shop would be dead. He was radiating fury all around, and an image of an exploding bomb flashed across Takao's mind. One wrong move, and Kagami would snap.

"And who's that?"

It probably wasn't that good for the boy's health to be so mad, but then sometimes people just can't help it being surrounded by the so called "Generation of Miracles". Heck, Takao was pissed off by Midorima's random whims more than once, and he considered himself to be patient and optimistic and all those positive qualities of a person that everyone would want to have.

Kise's mouth opened with an answer waiting to be voiced out, but instead, Aomine suddenly appeared with a plastic bag in his left hand, and swung his arms around the other's neck, bringing him into a headlock. He smirked mockingly as he caught Kagami's outraged expression, and there was no doubt that he'd heard the entire conversation. Which was really no surprise, considering the size of the ran-down place.

As the logical person he was (sometimes), Takao was expecting the eruption of Mt. Kagami when Aomine's voice sounded throughout the worn store.

"You don't know? It's his birthday soon," the tanned power forward snickered as he saw the the other's dumbfounded expression, mouth hanging wide open, obviously teasing the redhead. "Who else? It's Tetsu, of course."

* * *

Kuroko sighed as he turned the corner onto a familiar block, the street he used to walk down with Aomine and the rest of the Teikou team. Middle school students were crowding the area, and the teal haired boy navigated his way easily through the mob of people. He was bored, and there wasn't much homework to distract him from his wandering thoughts about his current "light", who was getting brighter and brighter to the point that he thought he couldn't stand seeing him improve any longer, or else he'd go blind.

Basketball practice was cancelled today, again, and Kagami had made another excuse to avoid walking home with Kuroko, or at least that's what he suspected it to be. Just an excuse.

How convenient for him, because Kuroko had been prepared to give the other a big speech about basketball, the same one he had given Aomine the year before. The memory was bitter, and he felt an oncoming headache just thinking about it.

He had really thought the future was something bright and inviting, something to look forward to instead of the shadows of yesterday. He had rekindled the fire in the Touou ace, which made his lips curve up into a small smile, but at the same time, did he extinguish Kagami's?

There's nothing more he hated than that stinging in his eyes and the sickness in his stomach. When was the last time that he felt like this? It was more agonizing than he had remembered it to be, and it was worse than any physical pain that he had experienced. It became more painful as he passed the gate of his former middle school, days of the past flowing through his mind, both happy and sad.

Kuroko turned his gaze to the cement in front of him, focusing on the sidewalk that led him forward as he left behind the entrance of Teikou Middle School, bathed in the colour of the sunset.

* * *

As the sunlight faded away, leaving behind darkness, the regulars of the Seirin basketball team (save for Kuroko, who had been told that there had been no practice after school) ambled down the streets of Shinjuku towards the sportswear store that had hosted the scavenger hunt. Kagami's breath came out in a whoosh of visible vapours, as he stopped in front of the shop with a huge garbage bag filled with the required items. The poster for the contest was no longer on display in the large windows, and the redhead pulled the door open, stepping into the blissfully conditioned air.

One by one, the other players followed him into the warmth, all letting out content sighs as soothing air blasted at the exposed parts of their skin. Kagami searched for any staff present, and groaned when he realized he had to walk all the way to the cashier, dragging the bag behind him.

"Alright! Let's get those shoes and―" Kagami stopped short, frozen in mid-step as he recognized the tanned figure leaning over the cash register, talking to an employee with a stack of boxes at his feet.

Aomine suddenly turned, and a smug smile plastered itself onto his face. Annoyance flared up inside of the redhead, and it melted the ice that had held his right foot firmly to the floor as he strode over to the other power forward, knick-knacks cluttering against each other inside of the bag he carried, intending to punch the stars out of the guy.

'_Well, if he's dead, he can't win the contest_.'

However, his chance to wipe that crooked grin off Aomine's face was stolen as the cashier shook her head, and called out to a balding man. Confusion took over all his earlier emotions, and Kagami barely noticed the rest of the Seirin team shuffling to his side as he neared the dark skinned boy.

"Hey, Aomine, are you missing an item?" Kagami taunted, waving his hand in front of the other's face, hoping to get on the other's nerves. The Touou ace was staring into space, at nothing in general. No reaction was evoked, which was a rare occurrence to be honest, but nevertheless, it was slightly irritating to be ignored. "Did you finally crack? Forget how to talk now? Hey, answer me. I know you can hear me. Hey-"

A dark hand smacked his away, and its owner glared at Kagami, who figured that he must have hit the mark. "Don't touch me, double eyebrows."

"You're the one who touched me! Double eyebrows? What are you then, ganguro-san?" The redhead retorted sharply, though he felt a little relieved that Aomine was still the same sane asshole.

"Kagami, I'm surprised that you even know that the word 'ganguro' exists," Midorima commented, popping out from behind a shelf of soccer balls, making Kagami jump. Did he learn it from Kuroko or something?

"Ah, excuse me! I'm sorry, but someone just came in with all the scavenger hunt items," the group turned to see the man from before, the one with no hair, who Kagami took to be the manager by the tag he wore on his dress shirt, as he bowed .

When he finally processed the manager's words, Kagami's hands grabbed at the air behind him, hoping to find a hold on something solid before he could fall over, landing on his head and getting a concussion, which would _not_ do him good in basketball. Plus, that evil coach would probably kill him for getting injured, therefore having to miss practices and the chance to be tortured by her.

Aomine was the first to snap out of the stupor that everyone had somehow got stunned into. He grabbed the collar of the shorter manager, lifting him up until his feet weren't touching the floor. "Old man, do you know how much trouble I went through to get these things? I missed out on all my sleep! I'm a growing boy, and you say someone else already got the shoes?"

"D-dai-chan! Do you want to get arrested?!" The pink haired girl squeaked, putting a hand on Aomine's arm, tugging with a strength that must have felt delicate as a butterfly landing on your skin. Kagami wasn't fooled though, just considering the fact that she's survived so long by Aomine's side suggested that she had enough power to knock the tanned boy unconscious with a mere slap.

The Touou ace waved Momoi away like she was a fly, and Kagami found himself already imagining Aomine's corpse on the ground in front of the tanned boy's childhood friend. "How hard is it to get two shoes signed by Lebron?! Is it gonna kill him to write his name another time on a pair of shoes?"

Evident fear showed on the manager's face, and Kagami could see the cashier edging towards the phone out of the corners of his eyes. He expected Momoi to get to the issue at hand before the police would be needed, so he wasn't too worried. "Er, mister, I'm sorry, but I think you've misunderstood...The shoes are signed by many players, not just one, so it's a bit hard to get a second pair..."

"Hah?" Aomine dropped the manager out of surprise. Kagami choked on his saliva, sputtering and coughing.

"H-how many players?" The redhead strained out in between uneven pants. Maybe it was just him, but Aomine also looked like he was in desperate need of oxygen.

"More than one, sir," the manager looked relieved, and smoothed out the fabric of his shirt, crumpled up by Aomine's rough hold. He studied the group of high school students before him before continuing, "I'm not sure of the exact number."

Desperate for some mutual horror or at least sympathy from the rest of Seirin, Kagami whirled around to face his teammates, who were all staring with hints of betrayal in their shocked faces. Riko was emitting a murderous aura, which Kagami hoped wouldn't get out of hand because he doubted that anyone could stop her once she had a conspiracy ready against someone.

"What does this person look like?" Riko's forced smile was more than disturbing, and it made a shiver run down Kagami's spine as his imagination ran wild. It wasn't looking very good for the manager, but thankfully, there was the law to protect him from the abuse that the coach was obviously planning to inflict upon him at the very moment. "The person who has the shoes now."

Kagami's eyes wandered as the manager began to deny that he knew the appearance of the stranger, and he noticed parts of Kuroko's former teammates' limbs peeking out from the corners of display shelves in a not-very-ninja-way. He almost did a double take as he spotted a tuft of crimson hair, and his heart rate sped up almost as an automatic response, because he still couldn't forget their first encounter. That crazy redhead and Midorima's scissors made an insane combo of an opponent that he'd rather not face any time soon, or better, ever again.

Fortunately for him, the shooting guard's lucky item today was a harmless rubber ducky, which would have been hilarious in any other situation, but Kagami couldn't just ignore his problem of a missing birthday present for Kuroko for the sole purpose of poking fun at Midorima. Whose demeanor, by the way, was a little too calm for a panicky issue like this, because this plan was already last minute enough, but for it to fail?

Kagami hadn't expected competition at all, until that morning anyways.

Kise edged out from his "hiding" place to greet Kagami as he stood next to Aomine, who was still seething. Kagami swore he would be doing the same, if he had the energy and time to do such a thing rather than thinking up a solution to this problematic outcome of the plan that he had initial confidence in, confidence that no longer existed.

The blond beamed at the red haired power forward as he rubbed Aomine's back. "I guess we'd just have to get Kurokocchi something else, huh?"

Momoi patted Aomine bicep as she sighed in defeat. Kagami spotted Midorima's eyes briefly concentrate on the dark boy's silent form before looking up at the ceiling, stark lighting reflecting off the lenses of his glasses. Murasakibara, who seemed to have had a growth spurt since the Winter Cup, slunk out from the volleyball section holding a small bag of koala bear shaped biscuits along with the ever-so-attention-commanding Akashi Seijuurou.

Judging from their gentle murmurs of words and the "Mine-chin can have my cookies" comment, it seemed that Aomine had really worked his butt off because of this scavenger hunt. For once, Kagami actually felt bad for the other, sincerely enough that he was almost glad that some stranger had come and taken the basketball shoes instead of Seirin.

A shadow is inseparable from the light, because for there to be a shadow, there has to be a light.

Kagami wondered if that the light needed the shadow, just as much as the shadow needed the light, if the light would lose sight of itself if there were no shadows around. Because, without the existence of the shadow, how could the light be sure that it exists itself?

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...

Omgomgomg I am sorry I didn't update for idk a month or something (and for all the short chapters so far I just can't write long chapters?!) o-o'

I hit a writer's block sort of thing (more like ran into a wall but.) And right now I'm dealing with an annoying group member in an important project, so sorry if some of the things in this chapter seems hurried or not very well written orz

kk enough of my excuses though I am really sorry, but since spring break is coming up, I think I'll try finishing this fic around next next week ^^; (lolol I feel like it's gonna be Kuroko's next bday when I finish this haha xDD)

_and omg_ ch 205! /sobbing. Poor Kuroko I just wanna hug him but then he's a 2D character so you know..haha.

Thank you for staying with this story, I'm really grateful for the time you took to read this!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.**

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_As Sweet As Vanilla Milkshakes_

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_..._

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_9. Sweeter Than Vanilla Milkshakes_

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"So what do we do now?" Kagami groaned, lamenting the non-existent results of his hard work as Seirin walked together down the street, dejected. He was the only one to go without a present, but surely, the basketball shoes had been the biggest deal out of them. It was something the whole team had worked together for, and losing it just like that felt like being defeated at the Interhigh all over again.

The Generation of Miracles had split up, either to prepare their own presents for Kuroko or just to wander off in search of food (read: Murasakibara), and only Momoi, Kise and Aomine remained. "I dunno, get a fountain spurting vanilla milkshakes?" The tanned power forward sulked as he matched his steps with the redhead. Their arguments had stopped for the time being, as they sympathized with each other and were crying a little on the inside, but to tell the truth Kagami was slightly disturbed by this abnormally calm attitude of his.

"Maybe I should listen to you more, Aominecchi..." Kaijou's ace sighed, causing Aomine to stop walking to whirl around and glower at him. "That vanilla milkshake fountain sure sounds good about now."

"Who was the one who sarcastically commented that my ideas were 'totally brilliant' again?" Aomine moved to threateningly grip Kise's shirt collar, but maybe it looked a bit too much like he was intending to choke the other, because Momoi yanked on his ear harshly to lead him away from the assumed murder victim. Scratch the thought from before, Aomine was only being abnormally calm towards _Kagami_, of all people.

Riko exhaled loudly, breath whooshing out into the chilly air in a cloud of vapours. "Kagami-kun, let's have Kuroko-kun's party at your place. We can go buy a bunch of vanilla flavoured things after we reorganize a little, most of us still need to get our presents for him after all."

Kagami raised an eyebrow, and usually he'd complain, but in dire situations like these he barely had any energy for walking, let alone argue. The only capable thing he was of doing as of now was moping, and Aomine's slumped form beside him didn't cheer the atmosphere up much at all.

"Someone call Kuroko and the rest of the team," Izuki suggested, but when no one moved Momoi took the initiative to contact everyone, her voice penetrating the glum silence that fell over the group. They had nearly reached their destination when Momoi began making the last few calls.

"...Apartment 248," the peach haired girl repeated into her cell phone, and Kagami had to stop himself from thinking about _how the heck she could have gotten his address_. "It will be the third door to the left when you get to the second floor. See you, Mukkun!"

"How much information did you gather about him?" Riko asked, incredulous look on her features, yet her tone was irritated. Everyone knew that the coach viewed the other girl as sort of a rival, or maybe even enemy, so it wasn't so shocking that she would be awed but annoyed at the same time at Momoi's stalker-like behaviour.

"Not a lot," Momoi hummed as she began to dial one of Seirin's player's number that she somehow had acquired. "Just what I need and then some."

"It's impressive, actually," Kiyoshi crossed his arms and nodded in approval, making the Seirin coach visibly stiffen.

"You need my address and how the hallway looks like?" Kagami squinted at the shorter girl, who responded with a bright smile as she greeted the person on the other end of the line ― who turned out to be Furihata ― and proceeded to inform him of the new plans.

"She's seen a lot more than just that," Kise helpfully added, causing terror to take over the redhead's expression. The small forward had no sense of what was considered disturbing and what was not, did he? The innocent look the model was wearing made it even worse.

He was blushing to the point where he almost began to sweat in the below-freezing temperature when Aomine snorted. "She probably has a crush on you or something."

'_Waitwaitwait!__ I thought we were comrades for a second, you traitor!_'

It seemed that the tanned ace's childhood friend had heard that sentence all too clearly, because a pale hand flew at Aomine's head so fast and hard that it resulted in Aomine stumbling when it connected with his skull. Kagami snickered when he lost his balance and flopped onto the ground blanketed with snow.

"Satsuki, what the hell?!"

Fuming, the pink haired girl stepped over the sprawled out limbs of the power forward, and _accidentally_ putting her weight on one of his hands, earning a yelp from Aomine.

"EEK! Wait, Momoicchi! Aominecchi can't play basketball if you hurt his hands!" Kise cried, rushing forward to pull the Touou manager away from what had become a full out let's-break-Aomine's-hand event. The blond tripped over one of Aomine's long legs, and ended up shoving Momoi away harshly, as he toppled over, falling down towards Aomine's chest. Panicking and trying to somehow catch himself, he reflexively shielded his face (as illogical as it is in this kind of situation, his face is pretty important to him, therefore needing all the protection it could get), and his elbow caught the other in the rib cage, and soon the air was filled with screams of agony.

"Kise, you little―!" A sharp exhalation of breath cut him off as Kise put all his weight on the elbow that had just jabbed Aomine. He clenched his teeth as the sharp bone ground into his ribs. "Is this how you plan to beat me in basketball? Killing me doesn't work! My ghost will still come back, and―_ouch_!"

Kise unceremoniously flopped down again when he realized he had been digging into Aomine's other rib cage in the process of getting up.

Momoi tumbled backwards, bracing herself for the hard impact of the concrete sidewalk against her back, but instead landed in a flurry of fabric. However, her saviour began to also fall from the sudden force of her weight, and before she knew it she was lying atop of another body. Her cheeks heated up as she scrambled around trying to get back up, limbs flailing desperately and socking the other's jaw by accident. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"You―ow, my other rib!" Aomine's loud voice was quivering as Kise rolled off to the side and finally struggled to his feet, face flushed bright crimson. He bowed at a ninety degree angle, and Seirin watched with disbelief the model transformed into Touou's shooting guard, his apologies blending in with Momoi's.

"Ah! It's Kagamin I landed on! I'm sorry!"

"Aominecchi! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, really! Sorry for puncturing your lungs and I'm sorry for not listening to your ideas for Kurokocchi's present, and for that one time I pied you in the face in middle school! And for being more popular than you, and for that time in summer training camps when I drew those mustaches and uni-brows―"

"So that was you!" The dark skinned boy sat up abruptly, wincing as his arms wrapped around his midsection and a menacing glare appeared on his features, promising revenge once he was well enough to carry it out. "And that wasn't even an apology anymore!"

"Um...excuse me?"

The soft spoken voice interrupted the chaos that had been bound to happen with such a huge gathering of people (a huge gathering of competitive rivals could work too), and everyone turned to the voice in surprise. The boy stood with his head tilted to the side, and though half of his face was concealed by a woolen scarf, those clear azure eyes as well as his powder blue hair betrayed his identity.

"Kuroko! When were you here?" Kagami shrieked as he staggered backwards away from the passing expert, in precaution as he was expecting for Tetsuya #2 to be present as well.

However, Kuroko seemed to be alone and sent him a strange glance before replying with a sentence that he was probably repeating for the umpteenth time, "I was here since the beginning. When Kise-kun and Momoi-san fell down, anyways."

Momoi flung herself into the other's body, nuzzling her head against his chest while wailing, "it's not what it looks like, Tetsu-kun! I only like Tetsu-kun, it's not _that_ kind of relationship with Kagamin!"

Before the teal haired boy even had a chance to respond to whatever confusing misapprehension Momoi had just described, the Kaijou ace also launched himself at Kuroko, effectively landing the trio on the ground and causing a flurry of snow to shower down on them. "Me too, Kurokocchi! I don't like Aominecchi at all! It's a misunderstanding, I swear!"

"Kise-kun, you're heavy," the boy monotonously uttered from beneath both the peach haired girl and the blond's weight, his voice slightly muffled. "Please get off."

"How mean!" Kise whined, but nonetheless the heaviness vanished soon after Kuroko had voiced his objection out loud. Momoi blushed and also got up, dusting snowflakes off her jacket, never mind that most of the snow was actually on the wan boy still on the ground. When he sat upright, he took in his surroundings, eyeing his high school team along with the trio from Teikou that had tagged along.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you all doing here?" He inquired, and seeming to silently add with the look he gave them, _'together, no less.'__  
_

"Uh..." Hyuuga started, but was cut off by Riko's awkward shout of "happy birthday!", and he ogled her before turning back to the first-year. "Ahaha... happy birthday?"

Kuroko looked fixedly at everyone present as Kise and the others threw their arms up in nervous chuckles of "happy birthday"'s, following the Seirin coach's lead. An expression of puzzlement slowly emerged on his features, and he stared curiously at his friends. "...thank you," the end of his sentence came up in a lilt, resulting in something that sounded more like a question than anything.

Riko cringed, and it didn't miss the short boy's ever observant eyes, but before the latter could speak, the brunette spun around and started running in the direction of the next intersection. "I'm getting some stuff, I'll be back soon! Go buy cake or something, Bakagami-kun!"

"Wha―" Kagami stuttered, watching Kiyoshi and Hyuuga follow, before Izuki's eyes lit up, striding off after the other Seirin basketball club members, muttering something under his breath and taking out that familiar notebook of his.

"Oh, yeah! We'll see you, Kurokocchi! We forgot things as well!" Kise waved, and looped his arms through Aomine's elbows, skipping away with Momoi at their heels. The blond's voice lowered significantly as he continued to outline a backup plan for Kuroko's gift, but his sharp exclamation cut through the air like a knife. "What about a coupon for vanilla milkshakes? No? Don't be bratty, Aominecchi, it's not like you have that many choices. Oh, yeah? Then come up with one that's better. I'll kiss you if you do! Wait! But..."

The small forward's chattering faded as the three crossed a street and disappeared among a throng of people. Kagami could only gape after them, a little perplexed about how he was left alone with his 'shadow' so quickly. He felt those slightly unsettling pair of eternally blue eyes scrutinizing the side of his face.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko addressed monotonously, voice as flat as ever and making the Seirin ace snap out of his stupor.

"I... I'm sorry," Kagami bowed his head, and scratched his scalp sheepishly while grimacing. "I couldn't get you a present. You see, there... was this scavenger hunt for a pair of basketball shoes, and..." The taller boy trailed off, still feeling Kuroko's unnerving gaze, before taking a shuddering breath to steel himself. "Just... I'm sorry, but I'll find you a gift some other day."

For a moment, the other didn't utter a word, and Kagami lifted his face to meet a twin set of cerulean orbs examining the former's expressions. At the uncomfortable stare, the redhead lowered his eyes again.

Kagami could sense that Kuroko had parted his lips to speak even before his voice sounded out, seeming to echo in the silence. "I see. That's why you've been so busy these past few weeks."

Blinking a snowflake from his lashes, Kagami nodded. The teal haired boy hesitated, but informed him, as blunt as per usual, "I thought you were ignoring me on purpose. That's what Aomine-kun started doing in our third year of middle school."

Now that was pretty unexpected, and Kagami flinched at the words, dripping with a subtle hurt and just a bit of accusation. "No! Why would you..." Kagami exhaled through his nose, attempting to slow his pounding heart down. Kuroko couldn't have thought _that_ lowly of him, could he? Though now that he recalled some of the instances where he had to make excuses to go buy an item or meet up with the rest of the basketball team members, it did seem like he was avoiding the teal haired boy. " I'm... really sorry about that, though. I wouldn't ever do that. But don't just go assuming things, stupid!"

Feeling heat creeping up upon his cheeks, Kagami ruffled the other's locks roughly, pushing Kuroko's head down while he was at it so his blush couldn't be seen. Judging from the lack of usual resistance, Kagami deemed that his words were a sort of relief to the shorter boy, and when his face finally calmed down enough to not betray his embarrassment, he let go of Kuroko, who had a small smile playing about his lips.

"You'll always like basketball, then? You'll always like playing basketball with everyone?"

The redhead snorted, and started to head towards a crosswalk. "You don't even need to ask, idiot," Kagami rolled his eyes as he waited for signal to change, knowing that his 'shadow' would be following him even without looking. The other reason was if he looked too directly at the other, he just might start blushing again. "But if it makes you feel better, I promise."

Kagami noticed Kuroko studying him with that same enchanting grin, as subtle as ever, from the peripherals of his vision. "Where are we going?"

"There's a Maji Burger not too far from here," he replied as he tread across the road. "We can come back after everyone's done... organizing."

At that, a quiet chuckle of amusement escaped from Kuroko, a foreign sound to the power forward as they turned a corner to see the restaurant of their destination. As usual, Kagami had to order for the blue haired boy to prevent holding up the line as the cashier promptly looked past Kuroko to the other customers.

"Kagami-kun's having a milkshake too?" Kuroko blinked, sending the ace a quizzical look.

Kagami only shrugged as he carried a tray to a table by the window, so that the two could watch people hurry by like they always did at the Maji Burger near their school (although that did sound kind of creepy now that he thought about it). "Trying something new, I guess. Aomine's doing that too, didn't think he swung that way."

The passing expert's brows furrowed in even greater confusion. "Aomine-kun?" Kuroko inquired, but Kagami decided to drop the subject, which wasn't very relevant to what he had really wanted to say to the other boy.

"Uh, no, never mind about that. But seriously, just trust me on this. I won't ever come to hate basketball, or whatever crap Aomine had going for him before we beat his egoistic ass, so..." Kagami paused, trying to form grammatically correct sentences in his brain, because in the heat of the moment he had forgotten to think, so now he was lost for words in addition to the fact that usually he'd have to do just a little bit of translation from English to Japanese in his head before speaking. But to be fair, his Japanese was getting quite fluent.

Kuroko decided to save him from whatever awkwardness he could have dragged himself into and cut in before the other could start stammering like an idiot. "I believe you, Kagami-kun."

The teal haired boy sipped from his straw, and Kagami felt blood rushing up onto his face as he digested the information, so he whipped his head to peer out of the window. Kuroko had promised to make him, make _Seirin_ number one, and he did. Now it was his turn to keep that promise, however simple it may be.

Slowly, he took a sip of the drink as well, and although it was too artificially saccharine for his personal preferences, Kuroko's words left behind a pleasant sweetness that left a tingling warmth where his heart should be.

'_So maybe I do like sweet things.'__  
_

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...

LOL I've been neglecting this story for who knows how long now.. x'D the truth is the writing block/wall I ran into had glue on it, so I'm stuck on the wall with suckish ideas. and i'm so so sorry i didn't include Akashi and Murasakibara except for a few mentions here and there but i honestly just can't write those two though the teikou arc in the manga's gonna be helpful..i'm really sorry for any OOC-ness btw!

(omg and have you noticed how kuroko pretty much only shows blank/angry faces and then his happy ones are just... kind of half there? xDD I'm slow, yeah. and AHHHH Ray of Shine was so sweet i started sobbing when the chorus started i can't aghjakgklh FEELS ;A;)

Well, it's done now, and I'm sorry for the lame-ish ending? (idk do you think it's lame I sorta think it's lame LOL sorry I had no good ideas, besides, I sound like Sakurai now) But I'm so glad it's done agh I was wondering the whole spring break if I could even finish it at all haha :')

Thanks for _your_ great suggestions though! But I'm so sorry I couldn't work them in somehow, I'm kind of brain dead these days and all I can think about is tea for some reason so gomen! orz

Well, thank you for staying with me until now, thanks for the faves and follows and for taking your time to read! I hoped you liked it!


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